The Scottish Conservative Party has demanded that the Scottish Parliament be recalled early from its summer recess in order to scrutinise Health Secretary Humza Yousaf as Scotland’s NHS boards have reached breaking point.
A code black status is given to a hospital that reaches absolute capacity with no beds available for new Accident and Emergency admissions, putting patient safety at risk. At code black status, NHS boards are forced to cancel surgery procedures and appointments in order to relieve the pressure that hospitals are under. So far, NHS Grampian’s Dr Gray’s Hospital and Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, along with NHS Highland’s Raigmore Hospital, have all reached this stage. Additionally, NHS Lanarkshire’s chief executive has declared that their hospitals are at breaking point, and they are considering cancelling elective care services and bringing in more workers to help alleviate the strain.
NHS boards say they have reached this stage due to rising Covid-19 cases and the increasing numbers of staff having to self-isolate due to having been in contact with those who have tested positive for Covid-19.
The Scottish Conservative Party is demanding that Holyrood be recalled and the Health Secretary make a statement on how he will deal with this crisis. Scottish Conservative MSP Pam Gosal argued that dealing with a situation such as this is “what Parliament is for” and as the SNP’s main opposition, we need to be able to “hold the SNP Scottish Government to account”.
This comes as Humza Yousaf was found to have travelled down to England to visit Harry Potter Studios whilst the SNP’s Secretary for Covid Recovery John Swinney and First Minister Nicola Sturgeon were also away at the same time. With nobody there to man the ship, no wonder our health service is at breaking point.
The Scottish Conservatives want to work through this crisis, why doesn’t the SNP?